Radio frequency integrated circuit having reduced receiver noise levels

ABSTRACT

A radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC) includes a digital to analog converter, an analog to digital converter, and a radio module. The digital to analog converter (DAC) is operably coupled to convert outbound symbols into outbound baseband signals, wherein the digital to analog converter is fabricated within a DAC portion of a substrate of the RFIC. The analog to digital converter (ADC) is operably coupled to convert inbound baseband signals into inbound symbols, wherein the analog to digital converter is fabricated within an ADC portion of the substrate. The radio module is operably coupled to convert the outbound baseband signals into outbound radio frequency (RF) signals and to convert inbound RF signals into the inbound baseband signals. The radio module is fabricated within a radio portion of the substrate, wherein the DAC portion of the substrate is physically between the ADC portion and the radio portion of the substrate.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Technical Field of the Invention

This invention relates generally to wireless communication systems andmore particularly to radio frequency integrated circuits used withinsuch systems.

2. Description of Related Art

Communication systems are known to support wireless and wire linedcommunications between wireless and/or wire lined communication devices.Such communication systems range from national and/or internationalcellular telephone systems to the Internet to point-to-point in-homewireless networks. Each type of communication system is constructed, andhence operates, in accordance with one or more communication standards.For instance, wireless communication systems may operate in accordancewith one or more standards including, but not limited to, IEEE 802.11,Bluetooth, advanced mobile phone services (AMPS), digital AMPS, globalsystem for mobile communications (GSM), code division multiple access(CDMA), local multi-point distribution systems (LMDS),multi-channel-multi-point distribution systems (MMDS), and/or variationsthereof.

Depending on the type of wireless communication system, a wirelesscommunication device, such as a cellular telephone, two-way radio,personal digital assistant (PDA), personal computer (PC), laptopcomputer, home entertainment equipment, et cetera communicates directlyor indirectly with other wireless communication devices. For directcommunications (also known as point-to-point communications), theparticipating wireless communication devices tune their receivers andtransmitters to the same channel or channels (e.g., one of the pluralityof radio frequency (RF) carriers of the wireless communication system)and communicate over that channel(s). For indirect wirelesscommunications, each wireless communication device communicates directlywith an associated base station (e.g., for cellular services) and/or anassociated access point (e.g., for an in-home or in-building wirelessnetwork) via an assigned channel. To complete a communication connectionbetween the wireless communication devices, the associated base stationsand/or associated access points communicate with each other directly,via a system controller, via the public switch telephone network, viathe Internet, and/or via some other wide area network.

For each wireless communication device to participate in wirelesscommunications, it includes a built-in radio transceiver (i.e., receiverand transmitter) or is coupled to an associated radio transceiver (e.g.,a station for in-home and/or in-building wireless communicationnetworks, RF modem, etc.). As is known, the transmitter includes a datamodulation stage, one or more intermediate frequency stages, and a poweramplifier. The data modulation stage converts raw data into basebandsignals in accordance with a particular wireless communication standard.The one or more intermediate frequency stages mix the baseband signalswith one or more local oscillations to produce RF signals. The poweramplifier amplifies the RF signals prior to transmission via an antenna.

As is also known, the receiver is coupled to the antenna and includes alow noise amplifier, one or more intermediate frequency stages, afiltering stage, and a data recovery stage. The low noise amplifierreceives inbound RF signals via the antenna and amplifies then. The oneor more intermediate frequency stages mix the amplified RF signals withone or more local oscillations to convert the amplified RF signal intobaseband signals or intermediate frequency (IF) signals. The filteringstage filters the baseband signals or the IF signals to attenuateunwanted out of band signals to produce filtered signals. The datarecovery stage recovers raw data from the filtered signals in accordancewith the particular wireless communication standard.

When the radio transceiver is implemented on a single integratedcircuit, noise from the digital circuitry (e.g., the analog to digitalconverters, the digital to analog converters, the data recovery stage,the data modulation stage, etc.) can adversely affect the performance ofthe analog radio front-end (e.g., the low noise amplifier, theintermediate frequency stages, etc.). Accordingly, conventional IClayout practices are employed, which include separate power supplies forthe analog and digital sections, separate ground connections for theanalog and digital sections, and minimizing high frequency analogtraces.

While these conventional IC layout practices help reduce the noisecoupled from the digital section to the analog section, for highperformance RF transceivers, the adverse affects of the noise from thedigital section on the analog section is still too great. For instance,IEEE 802.11, in at least one subparagraph, requires a signal to noise(SNR) of −85 dBm when data is being transmitting at an 11 MPBS(mega-bits per second) rate. With this requirement, a 1-volt inputsignal must have less than approximately 20 micro-volts of noise.Without further noise suppressing techniques, the conventional IC layoutpractices fail to provide sufficient noise suppression and/or isolation.

Therefore a need exists for an integrated circuit, and in particular aradio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC), that has a high level ofnoise immunity between its analog sections and digital sections.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The radio frequency integrated circuit having reduced receiver noiselevels of the present invention substantially meets these needs andothers. In one embodiment, a radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC)includes a digital to analog converter, an analog to digital converter,and a radio module. The digital to analog converter (DAC) is operablycoupled to convert outbound symbols into outbound baseband signals,wherein the digital to analog converter is fabricated within a DACportion of a substrate of the RFIC. The analog to digital converter(ADC) is operably coupled to convert inbound baseband signals intoinbound symbols, wherein the analog to digital converter is fabricatedwithin an ADC portion of the substrate. The radio module is operablycoupled to convert the outbound baseband signals into outbound radiofrequency (RF) signals and to convert inbound RF signals into theinbound baseband signals. The radio module is fabricated within a radioportion of the substrate, wherein the DAC portion of the substrate isphysically between the ADC portion and the radio portion of thesubstrate to provide the radio module with noise immunity from theanalog to digital converter.

In another embodiment, a method for fabricating a radio frequencyintegrated circuit (RFIC) begins by fabricating a digital to analogconverter (DAC) within a DAC portion of a substrate of the RFIC, whereinthe DAC is operably coupled to convert outbound symbols into outboundbaseband signals. The method further includes fabricating an analog todigital converter (ADC) within an ADC portion of the substrate, whereinthe ADC is operably coupled to convert inbound baseband signals intoinbound symbols. The method still further includes fabricating a radiomodule within a radio portion of the substrate, wherein the radio moduleis operably coupled to convert the outbound baseband signals intooutbound radio frequency (RF) signals and to convert inbound RF signalsinto the inbound baseband signals, wherein the DAC portion of thesubstrate is physically between the ADC portion and the radio portion ofthe substrate to provide the radio module with noise immunity from theanalog to digital converter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a wireless communication systemin accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of a wireless communication deviceis accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a diagram of a radio frequency integrated circuit layout inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a diagram of a radio frequency integrated circuit packaging inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 5 is a logic diagram of a method for fabricating a radio frequencyintegrated circuit in accordance with the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a communication system10 that includes a plurality of base stations and/or access points12-16, a plurality of wireless communication devices 18-32 and a networkhardware component 34. The wireless communication devices 18-32 may belaptop host computers 18 and 26, personal digital assistant hosts 20 and30, personal computer hosts 24 and 32 and/or cellular telephone hosts 22and 28. The details of the wireless communication devices will bedescribed in greater detail with reference to FIG. 2.

The base stations or access points 12-16 are operably coupled to thenetwork hardware 34 via local area network connections 36, 38 and 40.The network hardware 34, which may be a router, switch, bridge, modem,system controller, et cetera provides a wide area network connection 42for the communication system 10. Each of the base stations or accesspoints 12-16 has an associated antenna or antenna array to communicatewith the wireless communication devices in its area. Typically, thewireless communication devices register with a particular base stationor access point 12-14 to receive services from the communication system10. For direct connections (i.e., point-to-point communications),wireless communication devices communicate directly via an allocatedchannel.

Typically, base stations are used for cellular telephone systems andlike-type systems, while access points are used for in-home orin-building wireless networks. Regardless of the particular type ofcommunication system, each wireless communication device includes abuilt-in radio and/or is coupled to a radio. The radio includes a highlylinear amplifier and/or programmable multi-stage amplifier as disclosedherein to enhance performance, reduce costs, reduce size, and/or enhancebroadband applications.

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a wirelesscommunication device that includes the host device 18-32 and anassociated radio 60. For cellular telephone hosts, the radio 60 is abuilt-in component. For personal digital assistants hosts, laptop hosts,and/or personal computer hosts, the radio 60 may be built-in or anexternally coupled component.

As illustrated, the host device 18-32 includes a processing module 50,memory 52, radio interface 54, input interface 58 and output interface56. The processing module 50 and memory 52 execute the correspondinginstructions that are typically done by the host device. For example,for a cellular telephone host device, the processing module 50 performsthe corresponding communication functions in accordance with aparticular cellular telephone standard.

The radio interface 54 allows data to be received from and sent to theradio 60. For data received from the radio 60 (e.g., inbound data), theradio interface 54 provides the data to the processing module 50 forfurther processing and/or routing to the output interface 56. The outputinterface 56 provides connectivity to an output display device such as adisplay, monitor, speakers, et cetera such that the received data may bedisplayed. The radio interface 54 also provides data from the processingmodule 50 to the radio 60. The processing module 50 may receive theoutbound data from an input device such as a keyboard, keypad,microphone, et cetera via the input interface 58 or generate the dataitself. For data received via the input interface 58, the processingmodule 50 may perform a corresponding host function on the data and/orroute it to the radio 60 via the radio interface 54.

Radio 60 includes a host interface 62, digital receiver processingmodule 64, an analog-to-digital converter 66, a receive (RX) filtermodule 68, an IF mixing down conversion stage 70, an RX RF filter 71, alow noise amplifier 72, a transmitter/receiver switch 73, a localoscillation module 74, memory 75, a digital transmitter processingmodule 76, a digital-to-analog converter 78, a transmit (TX) filtermodule 80, an IF mixing up conversion stage 82, a power amplifier 84, aTX RF filter 85, and an antenna 86. The antenna 86 may be a singleantenna that is shared by the transmit and receive paths as regulated bythe Tx/Rx switch 73, or may include separate antennas for the transmitpath and receive path. The antenna implementation will depend on theparticular standard to which the wireless communication device iscompliant.

The digital receiver processing module 64 and the digital transmitterprocessing module 76, in combination with operational instructionsstored in memory 75, execute digital receiver functions and digitaltransmitter functions, respectively, in accordance with an encodingprotocol proscribed by the corresponding standard. The digital receiverfunctions include, but are not limited to, digital intermediatefrequency to baseband conversion, demodulation, constellation demapping,decoding, and/or descrambling. The digital transmitter functionsinclude, but are not limited to, scrambling, encoding, constellationmapping, modulation, and/or digital baseband to IF conversion. Thedigital receiver and transmitter processing modules 64 and 76 may beimplemented using a shared processing device, individual processingdevices, or a plurality of processing devices. Such a processing devicemay be a microprocessor, micro-controller, digital signal processor,microcomputer, central processing unit, field programmable gate array,programmable logic device, state machine, logic circuitry, analogcircuitry, digital circuitry, and/or any device that manipulates signals(analog and/or digital) based on operational instructions. The memory 75may be a single memory device or a plurality of memory devices. Such amemory device may be a read-only memory, random access memory, volatilememory, non-volatile memory, static memory, dynamic memory, flashmemory, and/or any device that stores digital information. Note thatwhen the processing module 64 and/or 76 implements one or more of itsfunctions via a state machine, analog circuitry, digital circuitry,and/or logic circuitry, the memory storing the corresponding operationalinstructions is embedded with the circuitry comprising the statemachine, analog circuitry, digital circuitry, and/or logic circuitry.

In operation, the radio 60 receives outbound data 94 from the hostdevice via the host interface 62. The host interface 62 routes theoutbound data 94 to the digital transmitter processing module 76, whichprocesses the outbound data 94 in accordance with a particular wirelesscommunication standard (e.g., IEEE 802.11 Bluetooth, et cetera) toproduce digital transmission formatted data 96. The digital transmissionformatted data 96 will be a digital base-band signal or a digital low IFsignal, where the low IF typically will be in the frequency range of onehundred kilohertz to a few megahertz.

The digital-to-analog converter 78 converts the digital transmissionformatted data 96 from the digital domain to the analog domain. The TXfilter 80 filters the analog signal prior to providing it to the IF upconversion mixing stage 82. The IF mixing stage 82 converts the analogbaseband or low IF signal into an RF signal based on a transmitter localoscillation 83 provided by local oscillation module 74. The poweramplifier 84 amplifies the RF signal to produce outbound RF signal 98,which is filtered by the TX RF filter 85. The antenna 86 transmits theoutbound RF signal 98 to a targeted device such as a base station, anaccess point and/or another wireless communication device.

The radio 60 also receives an inbound RF signal 88 via the antenna 86,which was transmitted by a base station, an access point, or anotherwireless communication device. The antenna 86 provides the inbound RFsignal 88 to the RX RF filter 71 via the Tx/Rx switch 73, where the RXRF filter 71 bandpass filters the inbound RF signal 88 and provides thefiltered RF signal to low noise amplifier 72, which amplifies the signal88 to produce an amplified inbound RF signal. The low noise amplifier 72provides the amplified inbound RF signal to the IF mixing module 70,which directly converts the amplified inbound RF signal into an inboundlow IF signal or baseband signal based on a receiver local oscillation81 provided by local oscillation module 74. The down conversion module70 provides the inbound low IF signal or baseband signal to the RXfilter module 68. The RX filter module 68 filters the inbound low IFsignal or the inbound baseband signal to produce a filtered inboundsignal.

The analog-to-digital converter 66 converts the filtered inbound signalfrom the analog domain to the digital domain to produce digitalreception formatted data 90. The digital receiver processing module 64decodes, descrambles, demaps, and/or demodulates the digital receptionformatted data 90 to recapture inbound data 92 in accordance with theparticular wireless communication standard being implemented by radio60. The host interface 62 provides the recaptured inbound data 92 to thehost device 18-32 via the radio interface 54.

As one of average skill in the art will appreciate, the wirelesscommunication device of FIG. 2 may be implemented using one or moreintegrated circuits. For example, the host device may be implemented onone integrated circuit, the digital receiver processing module 64, thedigital transmitter processing module 76 and memory 75 may beimplemented on a second integrated circuit, and the remaining componentsof the radio 60, less the antenna 86, may be implemented on a thirdintegrated circuit. As an alternate example, the radio 60 may beimplemented on a single integrated circuit. As yet another example, theprocessing module 50 of the host device and the digital receiver andtransmitter processing modules 64 and 76 may be a common processingdevice implemented on a single integrated circuit. Further, the memory52 and memory 75 may be implemented on a single integrated circuitand/or on the same integrated circuit as the common processing modulesof processing module 50 and the digital receiver and transmitterprocessing module 64 and 76.

FIG. 3 is a diagram of a radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC)layout. The RFIC is fabricated on a substrate 104, which may be producedusing CMOS Technology, Silicon Germanium Technology, Gallium ArsenideTechnology, et cetera. The substrate 104 supports a radio module 102, abaseband processing module 100, a phase locked loop (PLL) 106, theanalog-to-digital converter 66, and the digital-to-analog converter 78.The baseband processing module 100 includes the digital receiverprocessing module 64, the digital transmitter processing module 76, andmemory 75. The radio module 102 includes the low noise amplifier 72, thedown-conversion module 70, receiver filter module 68, the localoscillation module 74, the receiver RF filter module 71, thetransmit/receive switch module 73, the transmit RF filter module 85,power amplifier 84, up-conversion module 82, and the transmit filtermodule 80.

The RFIC, when in use, communicates in a half duplex manner. In otherwords, when the RFIC is transmitting data the receiver section (e.g.,low noise amplifier 72, down-conversion module 70, receiver filtermodule 68, analog-to-digital converter 66) is inactive. When in thereceive mode, the transmitter section (the power amplifier 84, transmitRF filter module 85, up-conversion module 82, transmit filter module 80and digital-to-analog converter 78) is inactive. To provide improvednoise immunity for the receiver section from digital noise produced bythe analog-to-digital converter 66, the placement of theanalog-to-digital converter 66 on substrate 104 is physically separatedfrom the receiver section of radio module 102, by the digital-to-analogconverter 78. With the digital-to-analog converter 78 being inactivewhen the receiver section is active, it provides a very low noisephysical barrier between the receiver portion of the radio module 102and the analog to digital converter 66. As such, the coupling of thenoise created by the analog-to-digital converter 66 to the low noiseamplifier 72 is decreased, which improves the signal-to-noise ratio ofreceived RF signals.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating radio frequency integrated circuit(RFIC) packaging. In this diagram, a package 112 supports the substrate104. The package 112 includes a plurality of bonding pads 108 andbonding wires 110. As shown, the radio frequency input/output bondingpads are coupled via bonding wires to the transmit/receive switch module73. Traces within the radio module 102 couple the RF input/outputsignals to the receiver RF filter 71 and the transmit RF filter 85,respectively.

The digital-to-analog converter and analog-to-digital converter eachhave separate power supply connections (V_(DD) and V_(SS)). As shown,the physical separation between the RF input/output bonding pads isincreased by having the analog-to-digital converter 66 separated fromthe RF module 102 by the digital-to-analog converter 78. Since thedigital-to-analog converter 78 is inactive, thus producing negligiblenoise, while the receiver section is active, the increased distancebetween the analog-to-digital converter and the low noise amplifier 72of the receiver section is increased. The increase of physicalseparation decreases the noise coupling of the noise produced by the ADC66 to the LNA 72, which improves signal-to-noise ratio performance ofthe receiver section of the RFIC.

FIG. 5 is a logic diagram of a method for fabricating a radio frequencyintegrated circuit with improved noise performance. The process beginssimultaneously at Steps 120-128. At Step 120, a digital-to-analogconverter is fabricated within a digital-to-analog converter portion ofa substrate of a radio frequency integrated circuit. At Step 122, ananalog-to-digital converter is fabricated with an analog-to-digitalconverter portion of the substrate. At Step 124, a radio module isfabricated within a radio portion of the substrate, wherein thedigital-to-analog converter portion of the substrate is physicallybetween the analog-to-digital converter portion and the radio portion ofthe substrate. This provides the radio module with enhanced noiseimmunity with respect to the analog-to-digital converter. Note that theradio module includes one or more of the elements shown in FIGS. 3and/or 4.

At Step 126, a phase locked loop (PLL) is fabricated within a PLLportion of the substrate. At Step 128, a baseband processing module isfabricated within a baseband portion of the substrate. The processingthen proceeds to Step 130 where the RFIC is packaged in a package havinga plurality of bonding pads. The bonding pads couple the RFIC to thepackage. Analog-to-digital converter bonding pads couple theanalog-to-digital converter to the package, digital-to-analog converterbonding wires couple the digital-to-analog converter to the package, andRF bonding wires couple the radio module to the package. Theanalog-to-digital converter bonding wires are physically separated fromthe RF bonding wires by the digital-to-analog converter bonding wires.

As one of average skill in the art will appreciate, the term“substantially” or “approximately”, as may be used herein, provides anindustry-accepted tolerance to its corresponding term. Such anindustry-accepted tolerance ranges from less than one percent to twentypercent and corresponds to, but is not limited to, component values,integrated circuit process variations, temperature variations, rise andfall times, and/or thermal noise. As one of average skill in the artwill further appreciate, the term “operably coupled”, as may be usedherein, includes direct coupling and indirect coupling via anothercomponent, element, circuit, or module where, for indirect coupling, theintervening component, element, circuit, or module does not modify theinformation of a signal but may adjust its current level, voltage level,and/or power level. As one of average skill in the art will alsoappreciate, inferred coupling (i.e., where one element is coupled toanother element by inference) includes direct and indirect couplingbetween two elements in the same manner as “operably coupled”. As one ofaverage skill in the art will further appreciate, the term “comparesfavorably”, as may be used herein, indicates that a comparison betweentwo or more elements, items, signals, etc., provides a desiredrelationship. For example, when the desired relationship is that signal1 has a greater magnitude than signal 2, a favorable comparison may beachieved when the magnitude of signal 1 is greater than that of signal 2or when the magnitude of signal 2 is less than that of signal 1.

The preceding discussion has presented a radio frequency integratedcircuit having improved signal-to-noise ratio performance and/orimproved noise suppression within the receiver portion. As one ofaverage skill in the art will appreciate, other embodiments may bederived from the teaching of the present invention without deviatingfrom the scope of the claims.

1. A radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC) comprises: digital toanalog converter (DAC) operably coupled to convert outbound symbols intooutbound baseband signals, wherein the digital to analog converter isfabricated within a DAC portion of a substrate of the RFIC; analog todigital converter (ADC) operably coupled to convert inbound basebandsignals into inbound symbols, wherein the analog to digital converter isfabricated within an ADC portion of the substrate; and radio moduleoperably coupled to convert the outbound baseband signals into outboundradio frequency (RF) signals and to convert inbound RF signals into theinbound baseband signals, wherein the radio module is fabricated withina radio portion of the substrate, wherein the DAC portion of thesubstrate is physically between the ADC portion and the radio portion ofthe substrate to provide the radio module with noise immunity from theanalog to digital converter.
 2. The RFIC of claim 1 further comprises:baseband processing module operable to convert outbound data into theoutbound symbols based on an encoding protocol and to convert theinbound symbols into inbound data based on the encoding protocol,wherein the baseband processing module is fabricated within a basebandportion of the substrate.
 3. The RFIC of claim 1 further comprises: apackage having a plurality of bonding pads that couple the RFIC to thepackage, wherein ADC bonding wires of the plurality of bonding wirescouple the ADC to the package, DAC bonding wires of the plurality ofbonding wires couple the DAC to the package, and RF bonding wires of theplurality of bonding wires couple the radio module to the package,wherein the ADC bonding wires are physically separated from the RFbounding wires by the DAC bonding wires.
 4. The RFIC of claim 1 furthercomprises: a phase locked loop (PLL) operably coupled to produce asystem clock for the DAC and the ADC, wherein the phased locked loop isfabricated on a PLL portion of the substrate and is physically separatedfrom the radio portion.
 5. The RFIC of claim 1, wherein the radio modulecomprises: a low noise amplifier (LNA) operably coupled to amplify theinbound RF signals to produce amplified inbound RF signals, wherein thelow noise amplifier is fabricated in an LNA section of the radio portionof the substrate; down conversion module operably coupled to convert theamplified inbound RF signals into the inbound baseband signals based ona receive local oscillation, wherein the down conversion module isfabricated in a down conversion section of the radio portion of thesubstrate; power amplifier (PA) operably coupled to amplify RF signalsto produce the outbound RF signals, wherein the power amplifier isfabricated in a PA section of the radio portion of the substrate; and upconversion module operably coupled to convert the outbound basebandsignals into the RF signals based on a transmit local oscillation,wherein the up-conversion module is fabricated in an up conversionsection of the radio portion of the substrate, wherein, of the LNAsection, the down conversion section, the PA section, and the upconversion section, the LNA section is most proximal to the DAC portion,the PA section is least proximal to the DAC portion, and the up and downconversion sections are intermediate proximal to the DAC portion.
 6. TheRFIC of claim 5, wherein the radio module further comprises: atransmit/receive (T/R) switch operable to couple the LNA or the PA to anantenna connection, wherein the transmit/receive switch is fabricated ina T/R section of the radio portion, wherein the T/R section isphysically located between the LNA section and the PA section.
 7. Amethod for fabricating a radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC), themethod comprises: fabricating a digital to analog converter (DAC) withina DAC portion of a substrate of the RFIC, wherein the DAC is operablycoupled to convert outbound symbols into outbound baseband signals;fabricating an analog to digital converter (ADC) within an ADC portionof the substrate, wherein the ADC is operably coupled to convert inboundbaseband signals into inbound symbols; and fabricating a radio modulewithin a radio portion of the substrate, wherein the radio module isoperably coupled to convert the outbound baseband signals into outboundradio frequency (RF) signals and to convert inbound RF signals into theinbound baseband signals, wherein the DAC portion of the substrate isphysically between the ADC portion and the radio portion of thesubstrate to provide the radio module with noise immunity from theanalog to digital converter.
 8. The method of claim 7 further comprises:fabricating a baseband processing module within a baseband portion ofthe substrate, wherein the baseband processing module is operable toconvert outbound data into the outbound symbols based on an encodingprotocol and to convert the inbound symbols into inbound data based onthe encoding protocol.
 9. The method of claim 7 further comprises:packaging the RFIC in a package having a plurality of bonding pads thatcouple the RFIC to the package, wherein ADC bonding wires of theplurality of bonding wires couple the ADC to the package, DAC bondingwires of the plurality of bonding wires couple the DAC to the package,and RF bonding wires of the plurality of bonding wires couple the radiomodule to the package, wherein the ADC bonding wires are physicallyseparated from the RF bounding wires by the DAC bonding wires.
 10. Themethod of claim 7 further comprises: fabricating a phase locked loop(PLL) within a PLL portion of the substrate, wherein the PLL is operablycoupled to produce a system clock for the DAC and the ADC, wherein thephased locked loop is physically separated from the radio portion. 11.The method of claim 7, wherein the fabricating the radio modulecomprises: fabricating a low noise amplifier (LNA) in an LNA section ofthe radio portion of the substrate, wherein the LNA is operably coupledto amplify the inbound RF signals to produce amplified inbound RFsignals; fabricating a down conversion module in a down conversionsection of the radio portion of the substrate, wherein the downconversion module is operably coupled to convert the amplified inboundRF signals into the inbound baseband signals based on a receive localoscillation; fabricating a power amplifier (PA) in a PA section of theradio portion of the substrate, wherein the PA is operably coupled toamplify RF signals to produce the outbound RF signals; and fabricatingan up conversion module operably in an up conversion section of theradio portion of the substrate, wherein the up conversion module iscoupled to convert the outbound baseband signals into the RF signalsbased on a transmit local oscillation, wherein, of the LNA section, thedown conversion section, the PA section, and the up conversion section,the LNA section is most proximal to the DAC portion, the PA section isleast proximal to the DAC portion, and the up and down conversionsections are intermediate proximal to the DAC portion.
 12. The method ofclaim 11, wherein the fabricating the radio module further comprises:fabricating a transmit/receive (T/R) switch in a T/R section of theradio portion, wherein the T/R switch is operable to couple the LNA orthe PA to an antenna connection, wherein the T/R section is physicallylocated between the LNA section and the PA section.